The nominations of his new cabinet make Putin’s Soviet roots only too obvious. Just as was the case under Leonid Brezhnev, incompetent bureaucrats are being shuffled around between posts.…
The reason why [Putin] won’t allow reforms is that he can’t, as the old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely has yet again proven true. After more than a decade in power, the Russian leadership is no longer capable of doing better politics. Its personal interests and assets are too dependent on maintaining the status quo.
Naturally, this pattern is nothing new for Russia. I will never forget what my great-grandmother, Nina, said about the corrupting influence of power in our own family. Unfortunately, the Khrushchev of 1962 was no longer the Khrushchev of 1956.
Regarding is Khrushchev in 1956 different from the 1962 version, we must remember that he was Stalin’s executioner in the purges of the Ukraine, later denouncing Uncle Joe just following his death.